Jase

Just noticed you have been quiet on Lukaku. lol

Don't think they have the players to play a modern pressing game. This squad have been largely formed on the back of two managers who are pragmatic and like to play more on the counter.

Without even hindsight, think that is clear. Rangnick's reputation has come as a sporting director or roles along those lines as opposed to a manager. Plus, he has never managed a big club in his career before. He may have done a good job at them but all the club he's managed are below United/Chelsea's level.

Perhaps so and given everything he's done and said, would a public apology even mean anything at this point?

It's like Nuno never left.

Realist > Optimist. 😛

This isn't aimed at you but seriously, fuck off with Lukaku complaining about the system and anyone attempting to defend him on that. We won the freaking Champions League (and the UEFA Super Cup) with this system and without Lukaku and he expect us to suddenly change everything to suit him? I don't care if he cost 100 million or not but he's no Ronaldo or Messi, who you are inclined to make adjustments or compromises to the system for to fit them in. Besides the goals, what has Lukaku won besides ONE Serie A title in his career? Furthermore, this is a guy who has said he is now a "multidimensional" striker and that he's improved a lot from his time at Inter. He also said this when he joined in August: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/08/16/romelu-lukaku-exclusive-first-interview-on-coming-back-as-a-lead ‘My role will depend on what the game plan is and what the boss wants me to do. If he wants me to be a focal point or if he wants me to attack the spaces in behind, I can do it. The two years in Italy helped me master all the facets of the game for a striker and now I’m ready. ‘I like the system that we play and I’m very flexible. I can play as a two or by myself and I’m used to the system because it’s what we play with the Belgian national team so I don’t need much time to adapt. It’s just knowing the strengths of my team-mates in important positions and knowing what we do off the ball, then I can do the rest.’ If he's as good as he's made himself out to be, then he should be able to play in and adapt to different tactical setups instead of bitching about how the manager doesn't play the way he wants.

Mate, you need to stop making such proclamations. 🤣

If you only read the sensationalized headlines or stories reported by the English media, sure it might have been taken out of context but if you read the full actual quotes from the interview, there was anything taken out of context. He said what he said pretty clearly. I don't know if you have seen it but Lukaku literally agreed to the interview without even his representatives knowing anything about it, never mind the club. And oh, he did the interview in his house too.

United could have gotten Conte but they are too scared of winning...

When even Di Canio is hitting the nail on the head... https://www.getfootballnewsitaly.com/2022/di-canio-slams-chelseas-lukaku-he-complains-at-the-first-difficulties/ “There are various aspects to consider in this interview: the character, the contradictions, the moment, the lack of awareness of what you are saying and at what levels. Then, there’s the weakness of an athlete who gives up after six months because perhaps he arrived there with an arrogance due to the fact that he does not realize the size and the levels. He won the Scudetto in Italy as a co-star with his teammates, but he is not a Messi or a player like that. With Zapata, Inter would have won anyway. He’s a functional player who did his duty.”

???

We haven't crashed and burned, that's for sure. Gonna jinx it but still only 3 defeats all season. When was the last time we had this few defeats at this point of the season? It's just those draws! Also, don't get the feeling that the players have given up on Tuchel like we have seen so many times in the past.

Oh...here's our last 12 league results at HOME against Liverpool: L 0-1 L 1-2 D 1-1 W 2-1 D 1-1 L 1-3 L 1-2 W 1-0 D 1-1 L 1-2 L 0-2 D 2-2

4 goals in the first half and of course, 0 in the second. Classic. Good fight back but strange game really. They went 2-0 up out of nothing. We got it 2-2 out of nowhere. Both teams profited from mistakes and neither one really forced the issue.

What a stupid game. But that goal from Kovacic...WOW!

The players look rather lethargic...

Would argue that none of those 4 situations were anything like this. Lukaku didn't just disrespect Tuchel, the fans, players in the media, he also disrespected the club who invested so much money in him with what he said. It's also made worse by the fact he went and agreed to the interview without the club knowing it/authorizing it and not even his agent knew anything about it.

The timing of this drama is also funny considering we will be facing his favorite manager Conte over the next few games.

lol He was at least one of the few guys who was actually scoring before he got the hamstring injury and then COVID. Plus, his pace would have come in handy against Liverpool's high line, just like it did at Anfield last season.

Very surprised that came from you, Tomo. lol As someone else has mentioned, it's a good chance to give some players who just came back from COVID, who maybe need game time to play. It could be a similar lineup to the one we saw against Zenit and/or Brentford in the cup.

If Lukaku is gonna say what he said, he might as well just give us the middle finger directly instead of going behind everyone's back to do that interview. What does the things that Lukaku said have anything to do with Azpi, Rudiger and Christensen? Based on what Matt Law reported, everything Lukaku went and said, including setting up the interview without even his agent knowing never mind the club, was done for selfish reasons especially when you take his past into consideration. He supposedly did the interview after the United game, which was around the time when we were playing well without him and Tuchel was trying to ease him back in from injury. Instead of speaking with Tuchel privately about his situation then or just work his way back in then, he had to be his usual insecure egoistic self and go bitch to the media about his situation. Every player would go through spells like he did back then. Take for example Werner or Chilwell. Both of them played almost every game last season but found themselves on the bench at the start of this season, but did they go bitch about to the media? No, they just kept quiet and trained properly and eventually, they found their way back into the XI. When Lukaku came back here, he said it was his dream, that he has unfinished business at the club and that the club was his love or No.1 after Inter Milan. But that interview came out and no, we weren't even his first choice at all. Because he couldn't get a move to Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern, he decided to choose. Heck, he would have even stayed at Inter had they offered him a new contract. So much for all the nice-ish stuff he said when he came back in August. Also, it's fucking hilarious that Lukaku went and complained about Tuchel's system etc when he literally said this in August: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/08/16/romelu-lukaku-exclusive-first-interview-on-coming-back-as-a-lead ‘My role will depend on what the game plan is and what the boss wants me to do. If he wants me to be a focal point or if he wants me to attack the spaces in behind, I can do it. The two years in Italy helped me master all the facets of the game for a striker and now I’m ready. ‘I like the system that we play and I’m very flexible. I can play as a two or by myself and I’m used to the system because it’s what we play with the Belgian national team so I don’t need much time to adapt. It’s just knowing the strengths of my team-mates in important positions and knowing what we do off the ball, then I can do the rest.’ He even reiterated the point again after the recent Villa game, saying he's now a "multidimensional" striker and that he has improved his game at Inter and yet, he complained about the system in the interview. Am sure it also hasn't escaped anyone's attention that he has looked at odds with the Tuchel's system. This is someone who likes to stroke his ego and talks himself up a lot but when the going gets tough, he will somehow go and bitch to the media about his situation.

I was saying that on the basis that Lukaku supposedly did that interview to placate the Inter fans and nothing more but of course, every development since then has made the situation worse and worse. I still don't think it's terminal because even if we want to sell him, Inter don't have the money to buy him and no one else does as well unless we are willing to sell him off at a loss. I'd also assume that their talk on Friday or yesterday didn't go well at all considering Tuchel has dropped Lukaku from the squad altogether.

Guardian's Jacob Steinberg must have read my post. 🤪

He didn't even go through it with his agent. What a fucking big brain move... So, he did the interview after that United game and around the time where he wasn't playing because we were doing well without him and Tuchel was trying to ease him back. Again, @Tomo was right. The second things don't go his way in the team, he goes and moans to the media, like he has done before.